About Me

For as long as I can remember my dad has called me
outracheous. As in, outrageous. “My outracheous Rachey,” that’s what he’d call
me. I’d hear it and I’d smile, hoping that I lived up to that name. That I was
unique, that I mattered, that I had something to offer the world. All while
being a little bit silly.

This blog is an attempt to make that true.

I am in my mid-20s. Here is my favorite baby picture. How
cute was I?!

I am getting a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family
Therapy

I live in Texas (notice the boots – I’m on the left. On the
right is my sister)

I am the youngest in my family

I live with a chronic illness

I love reading more than almost anything else

I am LDS and a returned missionary

I really enjoy making faces – cute faces

and… well… less cute faces

My favorite TV show is Supernatural. Also, Once Upon a Time, Castle, Vampire Diaries... I watch too much TV...

I love wearing skirts, especially the maxi variety

I was in band in high school, played the trumpet and french
horn.

I am the definition of an introvert – not shy, just more
focused on my inner-world

The purpose of this blog is for me to write. About anything.
A desire to write has recently risen in me; to write my experiences, my
feelings and thoughts, fiction, novels, short stories, my personal history, the
human condition – anything.

Except, being in school for therapy means that I only ever
took one literature class and the only writing class I took was specific to
writing in the social sciences. And though I absolutely love doing therapy and
plan on doing it for a long while, I want more.

I want to read for fun, more than I do now. I want to write
and actually have people read my words. Someday, yes, I want to have a novel
published. But because I did nothing in school to help me know how to write, I
have to figure it out on my own.

Therefore, a big purpose of this blog will be to chronicle
that journey. My literary journey – the one
that excites me more than any other journey I’ve been on.

The thing I love most about reading, and by extension,
writing? C. S. Lewis said it best:

That is my favorite thing about reading – whether it’s a
novel, non-fiction, scriptures, sermons, talks, motivations speeches, a
Facebook post, a pin on Pinterest, or (wouldn’t you know it?) a blog. We read
to feel something new and to see our own feelings and experiences put to words
by another.

That is what I hope this blog can be –

a way to be uniquely, outRACHeously me,

while at the same time

reaching out to countless others,

in their own uniqueness,

helping them all feel

for just for a moment,

a little less

alone.

Please feel free to email me at:

rachel (dot) ballard (dot) blog @ gmail (dot) com

You should also know that Ballard isn’t really my last
name. Rachel is my first name, don’t worry. And Ballard is a family name with
ancestor’s whose lives I greatly admire. But being a therapist, it is important
for me to be able to write freely without worrying about clients google-ing my
name and finding out more about me than is beneficial for their therapy. Those
of you who know my “true identity,” (that makes me feel like a superhero saying
that – I regret to inform you that I am not), please don’t put my last name in any
comments. If it shows up anywhere, I
will have to delete it. I appreciate everyone’s understanding with this.
Thanks!